Sunday, May 31, 2009

Cards Using Daisie Flower Die

I've started making cards again, last night I made 3 cards. For the first two I used Ellen's Big Shot and Daisie die. The Daisie die is seen in the picture below.

The picture below shows the various cs and DS paper after the die has been run through the Big Shot.

Here are the two cards I made using the Daisie die. I used buttons for the flower center and the eyelet border punch to give both cards a feminine touch. I also used my butterfly punch and made a three dimensional butterfly for each card. I usually include a sentiment on the front of my cards but I decided not to because I like the simplicity of it. I think the butterfly and flower is enough, otherwise it may look too cramped.

The third card I made used the Manhattan Flower die mentioned in my May 5, 2009 post. I cut out the flowers and adhered it to Apricot cs. I stamped the Best Wishes sentiment in Regal Rose on white cs and used the scallop oval punch. I tied white ribbon (I got at Michael's) around the card and voila, another card.

I'll be making cards every day this week through Friday so I'll be posting my projects daily. Tomorrow I'll post patriotic cards.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

House and Pet Sitting

I just got through house/pet sitting for 5 days for Cid and her family while they took a trip to Washington State. Their dog Bogart and their cat Mace were alot of fun. I've actually never met a cat so friendly. Of course I took some pictures of them, though my camera was acting up.

Here is Bogart, he likes to nap and sleep under the bed and he always thinks its feeding time no matter what time of the day or night it is. He likes to eat so much I found him eating the cat food a few times :o) Also, he has a dog door in one of the kids bedroom so he can go outside at any time. In the morning before it got too warm I would outside to water the potted plants and Bogart would go out the sliding door with me. On every occasion he would go back in the house and be at the sliding door again wanting to come outside again. I thought that was so funny, guess it was a treat to go out the sliding door. He's a cutie and very loving and affectionate dog.


Mace the cat and I became friends instantly. He would sit on my lap while I was on the couch watching TV. He'd sit facing me and would kneed my stomach with his two front paws and be purring away. Mace is a talker too, a few times each day he's look at me and meow and I thought he wanted to be let out into the garage to use the litter box, but I think he just wanted to "talk". I would meow back (of course) and we "talked" for a minute or so each time. His meow is high and squeaky like a squeaky toy, it's sooooo cute!! Mace would drink water out of Bogart's bowl so they shared their food and water with each other. He'd also sleep on the bed with me at night. Awww!

The more I'm around my friends cats the more they grow on me ~ I grew up with dogs but might have to get myself a cat sometime soon.

Declan, one of the sons, has two geckos in his room and I had to make sure it had water along with the frogs too. The display is real cool because you can take away the faux rock on the outside (held by magnets) to see the gecko's inside. I think that's a real neat display case, how cool is that? I think it's cool.

I have two more pet sitting gigs and another few more possible house/pet sitting jobs. Who knows, maybe I'll start a business. In my life of being unemployed anything is possible, as long as I'm open to it.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Additional Websites for my Blog

Ever since I saw the London Vintage Map on the Cornish Heritage Farm website about a month ago I've been thinking about making a shadow box with it. The theme of my shadow box would be Queen Elizabeth I (Tudor times) because she is someone I admire for many reasons, but I'll address that later in a different blog entry.

Since I had the theme for my shadow box I set out to look on the web for additional stamps and embellishments to add to it. I found 3 new websites that I love and want to share them with you. All three website have been added to my blog list.

First is Alpha Stamps (http://www.alphastamps.com/stamps.html). They have vintage Christmas, Children, Theatre, etc. stamps, papers and embellishments. I found two that I really like, thee crowns for my shadow box and I love moons and stars.


The second is Beeswax Rubber Stamps (http://www.beeswaxrubberstamps.com/catalog.htm). They have approximately 35 different categories of stamps, including Fairies and Angels, Cowboys and Indians, Asian, Desert Southwest, Egyptian, etc. A few of my favorites are: an actual stamp image of Queen Elizabeth I (a very accurate depiction of her), Excalibur (great detail) and a Crusader.


The third website is Rubber Trouble (http://rubbertrouble.com/catalog.php). They have approximately 42 categories of stamps including, Mythology, Celtic, Lettering & Calligraphy, Antique & Vintage, etc. A few of my favorites are: a Gargoyle (how cool is that!), Heraldic Shield stamp set where you build your own shield (I can think of many projects where I'd use this and it's only $19.99!) and Ancient Roman map (when I see Germania it always reminds me of the movie Gladiator!).


Even if you're not interested in these types of stamps you should check out these websites. I'm sure you'd find something you like with all the categories of stamps, papers and embellishments. They're all very unique which is one reason why I like them

I'm sure I'll find more websites and when I do I'll continue to share them. Happy crafting...

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Easter in May?

During my visit with Rose and Larry at Coarsegold I was walking in their backyard as I always do, to see what's blooming and what's new. I saw these eggs outside and they look so colorful and remind me of Easter eggs so of course I took a picture. Rose does alot of felting and is making pin cushions out of these eggs. They're solid and the various yarns have been felted and shaped into eggs. She put them outside so they dry all the way through before she cuts them in half to make them into pin cushions. What a great idea, huh? She's made all kind of felted things like handbags, hot pad's, etc. and is making new felted items like pin cushions, jewelry, etc.


Following are more pics of their back and front yards in all it's blooming beauty!



Here is a picture of my favorite non-blooming plant in their backyard, Feathered Mexican Grass. It's beautiful when it sways in the wind, very soothing.

I took a mini movie of it but I'm having trouble uploading to my blog. I'll try later...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Apple Cake

I went to visit my good friends Rose and Larry in Coarsegold last weekend and stayed for dinner. Dessert was Apple Cake which I've never had before and was really looking forward to,
just look at the pictures!! It was very moist on top and the cake was delicious, it has sour cream in it.

I bet it would be great warmed up and with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

It was very good so I wanted to share the pictures I took and the recipe http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/print?id=328763 .

Enjoy :o)


Stationary Note Box and Cards

Here are some pictures of what we made in Tuesday nights craft class with the gals. We made a stationary box and a few cards to put in it. We used Parisian Breeze DSP and various inks, punches, embellishments, stamp sets and ribbon at our disposal.

As you can see from the picture below the stationary box is made in two pieces and then fitted together to form the box to put cards into.



Thursday, May 7, 2009

Picasa 3 Collage Feature

Here is another neat feature of Picasa 3, you can make collages from your pictures. I made one below of a few of my favorite craft projects, mostly cards but it also includes a few mini boxes and bookmarks I made. It was difficult to make a decision which ones I wanted to put on the collage though I could make a few craft collages. I had no idea I've made as many cards and things until I looked at all my pictures.



It was fun to create this collage and there a few additional features I want to experiment with such as a choice of different borders for the pictures, background color and effects. I'll share more Picasa 3 features as I figure them out.

If you have questions about any of the cards leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mother's Day Card

Here is the Mother's Day card I sent my mom today, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I like the color combination and the simplicity of it, that's my mom. It's the first card I've made using the glossy cs with the Manhattan Flower die. What I like about this card is that I challenged myself to use cs colors I've never crafted with before. Plus I found Regal Rose ribbon (say that fast 3 times!) I didn't realize I had, that's always a nice surprise.

Here is a list of the SU supplies:
Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red and Apricot Appeal
Cs: glossy white, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose and White
Other: Manhattan Flower Die, Mother's Day Stamp, Background Texture Plate, Regal Rose Ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch and Dimensional's


As you can see from yesterday's post I have a few more cards to make with these roses but I need to get back to making baby announcements for Darcy and Gary. Their daughter Ruby was born about 2 weeks ago but I still want to get the announcements finished within the next week.

Craft Business Cards

I wanted to get some business cards made for the June 6th Art, Dinner and Music in the Meadow fund raising event sponsored by the Coarsegold Historic Museum. I will be sharing a booth with my girlfriend Rose and want to have business cards to hand out to potential customers, one never knows who will be there.

Since this is my first time ordering craft business cards I decided to ask my two crafty experienced stamping buddies for suggestions and websites. They mentioned the Colorful Images website (http://www.colorfulimages.com/) and Vista Printing website (http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/welcomeback.aspx). They both have great cards but I went with Vista Printing because they have a great sale now where you get 250 business cards for $3.99!! It costs more to ship them than the cards themselves.

It was a hard decision but I finally chose a design, color and font for my business cards, see below.

The reason I chose this one is because it's whimsical and open to interpretation, like crafting is to me. Initially I started out with different flower designs and then this morning I looked through the other business cards I bookmarked and really liked this one so I formatted it and ordered it. Just as easy as 1 2 3...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roses for Mothers Day Card

I just finished inking these three different roses for my mother's day card. This is the first time I've done this technique and it's amazing how unique each one is, I really enjoyed experimenting with the different colors.

With glossy card stock I used the Manhattan Flower die run through the Big Shot. I used foam make-up wedges to apply the different inks. At first I applied only two colors to each rose but then added a third color and it really makes the roses pop!

The pic below left uses Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Regal Rose inks.
The pic below right uses Regal Rose, Rose Red and Apricot Appeal inks.



The pic below uses So Saffron, Ruby Red and Cameo Coral inks.


I plan on cutting the outline of the roses and putting them on cs. Once I get the Mother's Day card complete I'll post a pic before I send it. Can't wait to make more of these using different color combinations.
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Monday, May 4, 2009

Jazzing up my blog

I'll be redesigning my blog over the next few days or so, so bear with me it may look different one day to the next. My favorite colors now are pink or blue and chocolate so we'll see what I come up with. One thing I don't want to do is turn off visitors to my blog with the colors I choose. I also plan on adding a design to my blog header and side columns. I have to do a little research on where to find designs or maybe I'll be more creative and make some of my own.

I'm going to have fun redesigning my blog...

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Craft Class Projects

We had another craft class last night with Ellen and did some fun projects I wanted to share. The first one was decorating a colorful pail purchased by Ellen at the Dollar Store. The colors we got to choose from were yellow, pink and blue and surprisingly I didn't pick the pink one, Cid got it after letting me choose between the pink or blue. I chose blue because it reminds me of the ocean.

The Flowers strip die was used with the Big Shot and attached to the pail with snail (that's fun to say) and then we used the Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in the center of a few flowers on each side. I've never used the Crop-A-Dile on metal, it was surprisingly easy. We inserted rhinestone brads into the holes, I chose red and blue. To finish it off we added different colored ribbon to the pail handle. This is how my pail looks now but sometime this month I'll be doing some additional decorating with rub-ons and some other girly beachy decorations to be determined.


Our second project was making an initial tag to put on a purse, as a luggage tag or however we want to use it. We used two different sizes of scallop chipboard and decorated the front and backs with Pink Flamingo DSP. The initials were made with the Naturally Serif strip dies, blue in my case. I had a blue theme in my projects. We did additional decorating on the two scallops, using different flowers Ellen made using punches and the die cuts in alot of different colors. We then used the Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in the two scallop chipboard pieces for the ring to hold everything together. I chose a goldish ring color and added ribbon and voila, the project was complete.



Most of the initial tags I've seen have the small scallop infront of the large one like this...


but I didn't want to cover up my initial and the all the beautiful colors so I put the small scallop on the back of the large one with the decorative side facing out, see the right hand pic below. One of the greatest things I've learned about crafting is there is no right and wrong, it's all a matter of personal preference and I like that.



The third and last project was a card making a dress silhouette using the Scallop Circle die cut. The pattern of DSP I chose is from the Rockabilly Speciality set which I love, it's such fun paper. The pic below is of the card and the cardboard scallop circle die cut with the outline of of the dress drawn on it. I will cut out the dress and use it as a template for future cards.

The dress is actually one piece of DSP with Kiwi Kiss ribbon tied around the waist and a flower punch with a red rhinestone brad for a corsage. The sentiment is from the Oval All set, stamped in Riding Hood Red ink and punched out with the Small Oval punch. I then used the Scallop Oval punch on Riding Hood Red cs for the background of the sentiment. The background is from the Urban Garden DSP.


I placed the dress at an angle mainly to allow a space for the sentiment on the front of the card. Plus I don't always like the focal design to be horizontal and vertical, it's good to mix it up every now and again.


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Saturday, May 2, 2009

Effects Feature on Picasa 3 - Take 2

It's been bugging me that the pics didn't show up when I posted on April 28th so I've been researching and trying different things. They're really cool pics and I really want to share them. I'm hoping this time it will work so let's s find out :o)

The first row going top to bottom are: the original pic; Sepia effect which is a certain color tone; and the saturation effect which is a real fun one to play around with.
 

 

 
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The second row going top to bottom are: Focal B&W effect where you choose where on the picture you want the patch of color applied (upper left hand corner here) to a copy of the black and white pic, neat affect; the tint effect; and the graduated tint (feather and shade)effect, another neat one.
 

 

 
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When I preview this post all the pics are there so I'm hoping you can see them too...